Set Me Free
by Harry Potter and the TARDIS
Summary: Cassie Draper thought she had seen the worst of the apocalypse after Terminus. Surely nothing could be worse than cannibalistic serial killers, right? Cassie had no idea how wrong she could be. Because when you make a deal with the bat swinging devil, you don't walk away without suffering the consequences./ Rated M for traumatic situations. Please read the author's note!


**a/n: Hey guys! So I've probably rewritten this story a million times, but I think I've finally decided on a plot.**

**This will mostly focus on the relationship between Cassie and Negan and Carter. Unless you readers really want a pairing, there won't be any pairings in this story, except maybe one for Tori. If there is going to be a pairing, then it will be more of a side plot, rather than the focus of the story.**

**WARNING! This is gonna be a pretty heavy story. There will be multiple mentions of rape, alcoholism, PTSD, abuse, and other things. I'm not going to go into major detail with the rape. It's not going to be pornographic in any way. It will mostly just be implied. If you are triggered in any way by any of these things, leave now. You have been warned. This story is going to be rated M for those reasons.**

**That's all for this author's note. Please enjoy! And please do leave a review if you have the time.**

**Also, I'm still working on a cover and face claims for this story. They'll be out soon, though, hopefully.**

* * *

**Cassie's POV **

_Nothing is real._

I never thought that I would ever relate to a Beatles song, especially one they wrote when they were so obviously high. I had never done a single drug in my life, and I thought the Beatles were overrated. I guess that's what the apocalypse does to a person. It turns them into a Beatles loving person who can relate to their drug infused lyrics.

Not that I'm judging them or anything. Before the end of the world, I might have. But now I understand. I understand wanting to escape from your own reality. But, unlike the Beatles, going on a crazy acid trip would prove fatal to me. Not because I would overdose or anything like that. But because anytime I was out of touch with reality, the dead would find that I made an easy target.

So I keep my head level. I try hard to get as much rest as I can. I eat as much as I can, not bothering to ration it out. I figure that if I do die of starvation, at least my last meal would've been a good one. I stick close to water, I find safe shelter, I learn how to hunt (as best as I can, anyway). I force myself to survive and to do only that. Because once I start to think, I remember that there's not much reason to survive anymore.

It's been about three years since the apocalypse started. I remember it as clear as day. That was the day my father was torn to pieces right in front of my eyes, and the day I lost my brother.

I don't know where most of my family is, or what has happened to them, except for my father. My mom was sick before the world ended, so I can only assume she's dead. My younger sister, Tori, was at the hospital as it all fell apart. They said they were going to evacuate the patients and medical personnel, so I can only hope that she is somewhere safe. As for my younger brother, Carter, he's probably dead too. And it's all my fault.

_*Flashback*_

"_I'm hungry, Cass," Carter told me plaintively. Being only ten years old, I should've been understanding of him. He's only a kid, after all, and being in the apocalypse hasn't been easy for any of us, least of all him. However, it had been a long day of hiking in the sun, and the only person I had to talk to was a ten year old boy, who barely understood what was going on. _

"_I know, Carter!" I snapped at him. I couldn't see him, but I could imagine his face filled with pain. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love my brother. With mom being as sick as she was, and with dad at work, I practically raised him. He's fourteen years younger than me, but he has always looked up to his two older sisters. I sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, sport. I'm hungry too. But it's only about ten o'clock. We already ate a couple hours ago. I think we should keep going for a little bit before we stop to eat again." I slowed down and put my arm around his shoulders, pulling his head closer to me. "How does that sound, old sport?" I asked him, teasing him a little. I had always called him sport, or old sport, because I read _The Great Gatsby _during my freshman year of high school, which was when he was born. _

_He grinned at me, glad to be forgiven. "Yeah," he replied. "Hey, Cass. Do you think that we could find a place to live? Like some old cabin that an old guy has abandoned?"_

_I snorted. "Well. Then we'd really be living the dream. Living in a shack in the woods filled with some old guys moonshine and joints."_

_He furrowed his brow in confusion. "What's moonshine and joints?"_

_I chuckled lightly. "Nothing, old sport. Let's just-"_

_From out of nowhere, a biter came at us. Carter gave a small cry of terror, diving behind me. I pulled out my knife and thrust it into the dead corpse's skull. "Cassie! Look!"_

_I looked to where Carter was pointing. There were at least a dozen other biters only thirty yards away. I swore under my breath and grabbed Carter by the shoulder. We ducked into the woods. I was hoping to take cover in the trees, but I quickly realized that that would be impossible. There were more biters in the forest and the trees offered little in the way of concealment. I steered ya away from the dead things and we sprinted as fast as Carter could in the opposite direction. _

_We had gotten far enough away for us to take a break. I grabbed Carter's shoulders. "Hey! Listen. I'm going to draw them off. Ok? I'm going to draw them off. I need you to run that way. Head back towards the stream we stopped at."_

_He shook his head, his eyes widened in fright. "No. Please don't leave me, Cass."_

"_Hey. It'll be ok. I'll meet you back there in a few minutes. At most, an hour." He was still shaking his head. "Carter, I can run faster than you. If I distract them, I have a better chance of getting away and so do you." I forced a smile onto my face. "I'll see you in a bit, old sport. Now get going."_

_With a look of determination, he took off in the direction I told him to, carrying my backpack full of food and water with him. I gave a sigh, glad that he was safe, and turned back to run towards the biters._

_I quickly attracted them with all the noise I made and lead them in the opposite direction that Carter had ran. Before long, I was running back towards where I had told him to wait. When I got there, there was an empty bag of chips that we had collected, but nothing else. No sign that he had been there._

_I screamed his name. I searched for him for weeks. But it was obvious what had happened to him. He had been killed. Ripped to bits by the monsters. And it was all my fault._

_*End Flashback*_

That morning, I had been annoyed with the fact that my only companion was a ten year old boy. Now, I would give anything to hear his voice again. But that was five years ago. I should have let it go, but I can't. My dreams are filled with his face. I imagine what he would be like now. He'd be thirteen now. Nearly a man. That makes me about twenty-seven years old. And Tori would be about twenty-three years old.

I'm getting old.

The air is quiet. Too quiet. The only sound is my footsteps on the railroad tracks. Feeling restless, I do something stupid. I stop and pull my Walkman out of my bag. I found this Walkman about two years ago now, when I was cleaning out a drug store. Somebody who had worked there had left this and no one else had bothered to pick it up. I took it and found only one tape in it: the Beatles White Album. Luckily, it's my favorite Beatles album. Since then, however, I've found some old tapes in abandoned houses and cars and I have seven tapes total. I have Queen: A Night at the Opera, the Beatles: White Album, AC-DC: Back in Black, David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Alice Cooper: Hey Stoopid, Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Guns N' Roses: Appetite for Destruction. I weighed all my options before deciding on Alice Cooper. It had been a while since I listened to him anyway. I opened the Walkman, put the tape in, put my headphones on (leaving one ear uncovered, just in case), and hit play. The sound of his song _Hey Stoopid_ plays in my left ear. As an extra precaution, I pull out my knife, and keep on my toes, just in case.

The music makes me feel less freaked out, but it's not the same as having someone to talk to. I haven't seen a living person in about a year. Maybe longer. I've lost track of the time. That's why I'm heading where the signs point me to go. Terminus. It's supposed to be some sort of community. I didn't think twice about it once I saw the sign. I automatically followed the arrows, heading towards their headquarters. Maybe I should've been more cautious about it, but I was just so lonely. I needed to see someone. Anyone.

Out of my right ear, I hear the rustling of leaves. I turn right away and head towards the sound. There's a biter there, which I take care of quickly. I'm about to head back towards the tracks when I hear a voice.

"Someone killed it." I whip around fast. It sounded like a young girl. She had whispered it. I could've sworn. I pause my tape and push my headphones down to my neck.

I'm about to give up, thinking I might be hearing things, when I hear another voice. "Why don't you come on out here?" It's a man's voice this time. Judging by his accent and speech patterns, I'd say he's black. Probably a bigger guy, not much older than me. I don't move at first. "We know you're there. We don't want any trouble. Just come on out, with your hands in the air."

Then, I hear a baby start to cry. The man swears softly and starts trying to shush the little one. After hearing that, I have very few reservations. There can't be that many of them, and it sounds like he has a bunch of kids with him. How much harm could they do? I tuck my knife back in my belt and step out into the open, hands in the air.

"I wasn't going to hurt you," I say right away. Now that I have a clear view of them, I can see that my prediction was right. There's only four of them total. The man, two girls (probably around ten and twelve), and a baby. How has this guy survived for so long with these three as company? Taking care of children in an apocalypse isn't exactly easy, but adding a baby to the mix? You might as well be insane to have had a baby in this day and age. However, judging by race, none of these kids are his. He's just a man who decided to help out some little girls. A nice guy. Good. "I didn't even know you guys were here. I just heard a biter and came to take it out."

"Were you at the prison?" the elder of the two girls asks me. She has her gun pointed at me, but I don't feel terribly frightened of her.

I shake my head in confusion. "Prison? No, I haven't been in any prisons." This seems to relax the man a little. "Look, I'm sorry to have scared you. I'll just leave now." I start to back away slowly when the man speaks up again.

"What's your name?" he asks me. His voice is surprisingly gentle. He isn't looking at me with hostility, but like he's happy to see me. Ok, I'll bite. Let's see what this guy's deal is.

"Cassie," I tell him. "Cassie Draper."

He nods. "I'm Tyreese. This is Lizzie, Mika, and this baby girl is Judith." For the first time in what feels like forever, I give a genuine smile.

"It's nice to meet you," I say honestly.

"She should stay with us," one of the girls, Mika, says, looking up at Tyreese. "She could help us with Judith and the walkers."

Tyreese actually nods at her words, to my surprise. Trusting strangers isn't something you really do nowadays. I know I don't. Which is weird because I shouldn't be trusting these guys either. Yet somehow, I feel relaxed around them. Like I said earlier, how much harm can a man with three little girls do? "I was thinking the same thing, Mika," he says. Then, he looks at me. "You don't have to stay with us. But if you come with us, we'll watch your back. We look out for each other. You don't have to be alone."

I consider his offer, sizing Tyreese up. He's definitely bigger and stronger than me. But I see the way he looks at each of the girls. He cares about them. He'll protect them first. Meaning that if worst comes to worst, I can use the kids as a distraction while I escape. It's a terrible thing to think about, but it might just have to be necessary. For now, though, he seems trustworthy. I like him. And it's been so long since I've seen anyone. Some company will do me good. I nod a little. "Sure. If you want me to."

Tyreese smiles at me. "We do," he says. I look at the fussing baby in his arms. "I have some powdered milk in my bag, and some water. I could hold her and feed her for a little, if you want."

He nods right away. "Mika, get her bottle out of the diaper bag." Mika quickly reaches into the bag and pulls out an empty baby bottle. I give her a small smile as I take it from her and take off my own bag. I set it down and unzip it, digging around for the powdered milk I found a while ago.

"What are these?" Mika asks, picking up my David Bowie tape.

"Those are my tapes," I explain. Having practically raised Carter, as well as having been a music teacher, I liked kids. So I didn't mind Mika looking at my stuff and asking questions. I found the powdered milk and gave a triumphant cry. I measured out a good amount and put some in the bottle. Then, I poured some water into the bottle. I put the lid back on and started to shake it up to stir it. "It's got some music on it. Here," I pull off my Walkman and headphones and hand them to Lizzie and Mika. "You guys go ahead and listen to whatever you want. Just please don't break my tapes or my Walkman. It took me forever to build up my collection." With wide eyes, the two girls start to mess around with my Walkman and tapes. I smile at them and then turn to Tyreese. "I'll take her now, if that's ok."

Tyreese nods and gently passes me the baby. I cradle her head, bouncing her a little before putting the bottle in her mouth. Her cries stop right away, giving all our ears a break. Tyreese gives a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he tells me.

"No problem," I reply easily. I smile down at the baby girl. "You like that? Yeah? Judith, right?" I ask. Tyreese nods. "Is she yours?"

He shakes his head. "No. We were with a larger group. We were separated a while back. I grabbed the baby before the walkers could, as well as Mika and Lizzie."

"The others you were with. Are they dead?"

He shrugs, a sadness filling his eyes. "I don't know. There were so many of us. We were staying at a prison when someone else showed up. They had a tank and they wanted to throw us out. There was a shootout. We were scattered."

"I'm so sorry," I tell him softly. He waves away my apology. "Are you going to look for your group?"

"We'll try," he told me, trying to sound positive. "I saw the signs for Terminus. I'm thinking that some of 'em might have gone there."

I nod encouragingly. "That's where I was headed too." Then, I look him in the eyes. "I'll help you guys get there in anyway I can."

"Thank you," he tells me. "If we do find anyone else, you'd be welcome to join our group. You've been a big help so far. We'd be lucky to have you."

I smile again. "I'd like that."

* * *

_***Flashback***_

**Carter's POV **

I sprint as hard as I can, in the direction that Cassie said to go. I don't stop, not even to look over my shoulder. I just keep going.

After a while, I reach the little stream that Cassie and I slept by last night. I sit down on a boulder and wait patiently for Cassie to come back. Ten minutes pass by. Then twenty. It feels like hours to me. I pull out a bag of chips and eat it quickly. Forty minutes. The sun is blazing hot overhead. An hour.

I start to pace. Cassie said she would be back in an hour. She promised me. And Cassie never broke her promises. Maybe she had just stopped to take a break. Or maybe she had been killed.

I considered going back for her. Yes, that seemed like the only option to me. I grabbed the knife that Cassie had given me, I put on the backpack, and I started to walk back towards the place where I had last seen Cassie. At least, I was pretty sure this was the right direction.

I walked through the woods as quietly as I could, keeping an eye out for biters, just as Cassie had taught me. But there didn't seem to be any around.

By the time o decided to take a break, the sun was going down. And nothing I saw looked familiar. I sat down on the forest floor and pulled out a granola bar to eat. As I ate, I began to wonder what I should do. Should I try to go back to the stream? Or maybe Cassie was looking for me right now. "Cassie?" I called out hesitantly. "Cassie? It's me! Carter!"

There was no reply. "Cassie!" I called out, louder now. "Cassie! Help me!" But she didn't come to my aid. She had left me all alone. She said she would come back for me, but she didn't.

Suddenly, I heard the trees rustling behind me. I turned around, scared of what it might be. I held up my knife defensively. "Cassie?" I asked hopefully.

A figure stepped out of the trees. But I wasn't Cassie. And it wasn't a biter. It was a man. He was tall with black hair and a smile. He was wearing a white shirt with jeans and carrying a gun. "Who are you?" I demanded, trying to sound brave like Cassie always did. "If you touch me, I'll kill you," I told him. That's what Cassie would say. I had to be brave like she was now.

He chuckled at me. "Kid, you've got some serious balls on you." I scrunched up my forehead in confusion. What did that mean? I didn't know, but I didn't want to ask either. He took a step closer to me. I shook the knife at him. "Don't come any closer!" I shouted.

This time, the man didn't laugh. He put his gun in his pants and held up his hands. "I'm not gonna hurt you, kid," he told me. "Are you alone?"

Slowly, I shook my head. "No. My sister, Cassie, she's with me. She'll be here soon."

"When was the last time you saw her?" he asks me next.

"This morning," I reply automatically. "We were being chased by a whole lot of biters. She told me to run back to the stream while she lead them away."

The man came closer again. This time, I didn't try to stab him. He put a hand on my shoulder. "Kid, I hate to tell you this, but your sister is dead."

I look up at him in shock, shaking my head right away. "No. She promised me she'd come back for me. And Cassie never breaks her promises."

"How old is your sister?"

"Twenty-four."

The man only shook his head. "Kid, sometimes, grown ups lie when they don't want kids to be scared. Your sister told you that so you wouldn't be scared. But she's dead, now."

Tears start to fill my eyes. I shake my head again. "No. She promised me. Cassie always keeps her promises."

He sighs heavily, just like Cassie does when she's frustrated. "I'm sorry, kid. But it's the truth. Cassie's dead. But you-" he pokes me chest, "you're not dead. You made it out of the forest on your own. You threatened _me_ with a knife. You are one ballsy kid!"

I only stare at the ground, feeling helpless. "What am I supposed to do now?"

The man grabs my chin and looks into my eyes. It's something Cassie used to do to me when I was sad. "Hey. I know you don't know me, kid, but I'm not just gonna leave you out here on your own."

"You mean… I could come with you?" I ask in amazement.

He nods right away. "I kinda like you, kid. I think you'll be some good company."

"Thank you, Mr…" I trail off and wait for him to tell me his name.

"Just call me Negan, kid," he tells me. "And what's your name?"

"Carter," I tell him.

Negan grins at me. "Let's get going then, Carter."


End file.
